Dressing welds (1 Viewer)

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Curious to know if there are any experienced or professional painters that can offer an opinion. I’m new to welding and I’ve discovered body work and welding sheet metal is an art. I have half a vehicle to finish reconstructing so I don’t have time to waste. Are welds like this acceptable for a painter? Or would they expect me to have this totally cleaned up? I will reach out to the painters I intend to use but prefer to embarrass myself here first.

Thanks in advance for the advice.
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This is all under the passenger floor pan.
 
Well ... its curious. Some of that looks like deeply grooved. I was going to say that just a high build primer will cover all that but unsure. You may want to just hit that with some seam sealer on the underside in those grooved areas. If on the other hand its just light indentations and its on the underside....I'd say paint will seal it up nicely.
 
That is pretty common to have some undercut in the toes of the weld on sheet metal. Kind of a compromise between adequate filler and blowing a hole through it. To cover that it will be considered light bodywork. But, unless everything is already absolutely perfect (extremely rare), the paint shop will estimate bodywork labor as well and that undercut will be dealt with.
 
Well ... it’s curious. Some of that looks like deeply grooved. I was going to say that just a high build primer will cover all that but unsure. You may want to just hit that with some seam sealer on the underside in those grooved areas. If on the other hand it’s just light indentations and its on the underside....I'd say paint will seal it up nicely.
^ High build will not cover these defects for sure. Filler will and is most likely what a painter would do. Hope the welds are at least in alignment with the contours and not higher. If higher they will need to be knocked down.
 
Thanks guys. I can keep cleaning these up. Just wasn't sure if I need too...? A low heat tack or small bead followed by a grind typically gets it totally smoothed out, but that's a lot of work and a lot of time. The more times you hit it with a welder the more it tends to warp and you always risk over-grinding and having a bigger problem to fix (been there a few times already). I spent the better part of two days making a section of the top of the floor pan perfect. Just seems excessive to do that level of work everywhere.

I'll see what the painters say and circle back. :meh:
 
As a youngster I got to watch an old timer do leading in. He lived a few blocks away and did high end paint & body work exclusively on rare antique vehicles. The old timer in “THIS” video reminded me him.
 
Thanks guys. I can keep cleaning these up. Just wasn't sure if I need too...? A low heat tack or small bead followed by a grind typically gets it totally smoothed out, but that's a lot of work and a lot of time. The more times you hit it with a welder the more it tends to warp and you always risk over-grinding and having a bigger problem to fix (been there a few times already). I spent the better part of two days making a section of the top of the floor pan perfect. Just seems excessive to do that level of work everywhere.

I'll see what the painters say and circle back. :meh:
Depends on what you consider good enough for your build. If you are after that concourse finish it will take the time it takes to do it to perfection.
 
Weld joints like that are usually filled with fiberglass-reinforced body filler to make them more impervious to moisture, before regular filler is used on the whole area.
 
I'd probably go back and fill some of those cavities and grind them back down, some of them are close enuff.
The better they are the less you have to pay the body guy. What do you mean by "low heat tack or small bead"? I'm no body or paint guy, so I've been learning by doing and dont have the funds to pay someone to finish and paint it. I found the grinding process is more important than the welding. I'm usually fairly quick and consistent on the tack and move around a lot. I move around a lot on the grinding too and step down on grit when I'm getting welds close. When I grind I try to stay on the weld and try to stay off the sheet metal, so it doesn't get too thin. Equating progress by time spent is the wrong approach. What's your grinding process and what tools are you using?
 
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Also, what diameter of the weld wire were you using? A smaller diameter wire works much better on the sheet metal (requires less heat -> less chance of warping)
 
Curious to know if there are any experienced or professional painters that can offer an opinion. I’m new to welding and I’ve discovered body work and welding sheet metal is an art. I have half a vehicle to finish reconstructing so I don’t have time to waste. Are welds like this acceptable for a painter? Or would they expect me to have this totally cleaned up? I will reach out to the painters I intend to use but prefer to embarrass myself here first.

Thanks in advance for the advice.
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This is all under the passenger floor pan.

Are you tacking or running beads? It looks like you are running beads to me. Spacing tacks out by an inch or so and getting a good, soild tack will reduce the undercutting and warping some. Move a lot and let everything cool. If you can't touch it with your hand a few seconds after welding it, it's running too hot. You HAZ shows to me that you are running true beads, which I would recomend against.

How are you prepping welds? I would recomend some 36g 2" roloc disks and a 4" for blending on a 90° die grinder. Low pressure, and keep the heat down with sharp wheels.
 
Also, what diameter of the weld wire were you using? A smaller diameter wire works much better on the sheet metal (requires less heat -> less chance of warping)
Using .030 so pretty thin. I could drop one size but it seems to be working well
 
Are you tacking or running beads? It looks like you are running beads to me. Spacing tacks out by an inch or so and getting a good, soild tack will reduce the undercutting and warping some. Move a lot and let everything cool. If you can't touch it with your hand a few seconds after welding it, it's running too hot. You HAZ shows to me that you are running true beads, which I would recomend against.

How are you prepping welds? I would recomend some 36g 2" roloc disks and a 4" for blending on a 90° die grinder. Low pressure, and keep the heat down with sharp wheels.
Mostly tacking on the top but found that I wasn’t getting enough penetration with tacks to feel like it was strong enough so my theory was to run short beads on the bottom of the floor pan to strengthen it. Gets some penetration towards the top of the pan and that grinds out easily. Let me know what you think about that. I’ll look at those recommended tools. Thanks!
 
You do not want to be doing anymore welding than you need to.

Good fit ups are critical, 035 or 030 wire is plenty, no need to run cold. Tack tack tack, move to another area...tack tack tack.....move
 

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